


Boys Suck

by brokenpromisesandhope



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Breakups, Comfort, Crying, Friendship, Gen, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 12:05:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17622068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenpromisesandhope/pseuds/brokenpromisesandhope
Summary: Lucas walks in on Nancy crying over a breakup.





	Boys Suck

**Author's Note:**

> I saw this quote once: “he’s a teenage boy, and he knows no teenage boy is worth crying over.”  
> And here we are.  
> Xx  
> T
> 
> I would like to state Nancy has a drink before driving Lucas to Dustin’s, but she’s not drunk and I would never advocate for drunk driving. Be safe.

Lucas just wanted to visit Mike. He was supposed to pick Mike up, and they were going to Dustin’s for a D&D tournament. Mike was supposed to meet him on the back porch. After ten minutes of waiting, Lucas hopes off his bike, leans it against the fence, and heads up to the patio door of the Wheeler’s. 

The screen door is the only one closed because it’s 75 degrees out and hot as hell. Lucas is eager to get to Dustin’s where he knows his mom will have ice cold sodas and popsicles for them. He slings open the screen door and barely kicks his shoes off before hollering, 

“Mike! Mike? Where the hell are you?” 

He walks towards the living room, through the kitchen. Nancy’s sitting at the counter, a fancy bottle of alcohol sititng in front of her. A frosted crystal class next to it. 

She sniffles dramatically, 

“He’s not here.” 

Lucas stops, 

“He’s not here?! I’m supposed to meet him!” 

Nancy blows her nose loudly into a wad of paper towels and Lucas hesitates to get any closer, 

“Well he went to Will’s about twenty minutes ago.” 

Lucas wants to wring Mike’s scrawny pale neck right about now, he’d ridden all the way over here only to - 

“But he said-” 

“Look Lucas!” she starts hysterically, “I don’t fucking know what Mike is doing!” she sniffles loudly, “I don’t know what you boys were thinking. I don’t know what any boy is thinking apparently,” she sobs into the crumpled paper towel.  
Lucas clearly has walked into a situation he has no clue how to get out of. He takes a deep breath and walks towards Nancy. Her hair is up in a ratty bun, her face is blotchy red from crying, her blue eyes red and dark black mascara tracks running down her face. She’s flushed from her face down to the frayed edge of her tank top, and her bony fingers are twirling the paper towel between them. The glass is half empty. 

He hesitates. Because Nancy’s grown now. Well, grown, nineteen, the same. She goes to the community college in the next town over, and interns at a fancy rich dental office, and is helping his mom get him braces for free. But she’s crying over a boy. He is a teenage boy and he knows no boys are worth crying over. 

“Did you and - Marcus,” he mumbles because he doesn’t know the kid’s name anyway, “break up?” 

She huffs, and begins ripping the paper towel to bits, 

“Marcus, decided that we weren’t actually in a relationship and slept with the daughter of the owner of our Dental Office,” she says harshly. 

She sprinkles the paper towel crumbles across the counter, and wraps her fingers around the glass. Downs the liquid that smells like lighter fluid and presses the still cool glass against her sternum. 

While Lucas knows this asshole isn’t deserving of Nancy’s tears, he may be deserving of an ass whooping, 

“Shit Nance, I’m sorry. Can you switch offices?” he asks, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. 

He barely touches her before she curls into his chest crying. She lets out wet, open mouthed sobs into his shirt and he freezes. He’s not, he’s not good at these situations. Not the way Mike would be, to know his sister. Or Will, whose dad left, or even Dustin who really liked Nancy. Lucas liked Nancy too, but they hadn’t been close in years. 

“It’s okay Nancy. You can just, just tell your teacher that like, I don’t know-” he mumbles, patting her head. 

She pulls back, sniffling hard, and rips off three more pieces of paper towel and bunches them up before blowing her nose into them, 

“I can’t Lucas. I’ve gotta be a big girl. Besides, I promised someone that they would get braces, didn’t I?” and she smiles, because that’s what Nancy does, and she pours herself another half of a drink and downs it. 

Lucas doesn’t really know what to say, because Nancy is already wiping her face off, and she stands up, putting the alcohol back under the sink and sets the glass in the metal sink, and splashes water on her face, and when she turns back to him, her face is pink, but clear of marks, and saltwater tears and she pulls her hair out of the bun and braids it to the side, smoothing it so she looks at least a little presentable, 

“Would you like a ride to Dustin’s?” 

“Sure.” 

They don’t talk, but Nancy blasts the AC, and drops him right at the door. 

“Thanks Nancy.” 

“Don’t mention it,” she says, blue eyes sparkling.

He knows she means more than one thing. 

He knocks on the door, and is greeted with a punch from Dustin, 

“Where the hell were you bro?!” 

Lucas looks back but Nancy is gone. 

“Nowhere. Um, let’s get started then!”


End file.
